David A. Sutphen ’91 was appointed to the Board of Trustees in 2014. He joined 2U as chief communications and engagement officer in July of 2017 overseeing the communications, impact, public affairs, events and corporate brand teams. He is a former partner at Brunswick Group where he advised Fortune 500 companies and major charitable organizations on reputational, stakeholder engagement, crisis, litigation, diversity and public affairs matters, with a particular focus on the media, retail, technology and education sectors. Prior to Brunswick, he was a senior executive at Viacom and the Recording Industry Association of America.

After graduating from Michigan Law School in 1995, he began his career as a clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for 3rd Circuit and then joined Covington & Burling. He left the practice of law for politics, serving as chief of staff to former U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. and general counsel to the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.

A former varsity soccer player at Amherst, Sutphen serves on the executive committee of the U.S. Soccer Foundation—the official charity of U.S. Soccer—and is active on numerous other nonprofit boards, including GetSchooled and the CityBridge Foundation.